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Draft edit of Wikipedia page Left-behind children in China

Project Proposal

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Outline changes

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  • 1.    Overview (expand the content)
  • 2.    Drivers of rural-to-urban migration (causes of left-behind children)
  • 2.1. Rural to urban migration
  • 2.2. Hukou system
  • 2.3. Education attainment issue
  • 3.    Impacts (I plan on keep the section but expand the content)
  • 3.1. Mental and Physical Health
  • 3.2. Education
  • 3.3. Social relationships
  • 3.4. Safety
  • 3.5. Cell phone addiction
  • 4.    Influencing factors (Intersectionality in experience)
  • 4.1. Age
  • 4.2. Gender
  • 4.3. Resources
  • 5.    Government and private sector initiatives (I plan on expanding this part)
  • 5.1. State response
  • 5.2. Private sector initiatives
  • 5.3. International community response
  • 6.    International comparison
  • 7.    Further reading
  • 8.    External links
  • 9.    References

Planned Work

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Overall

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In general, the article will be divided into three parts—the cause, impact, and policy initiatives surround the left-behind children in China. I have three main focuses in my edits: add new information about the state of left-behind children including statistics by regions, expand on explaining the causes of the issue, and edit the original text and add credible references to increase neutrality.

Changes by section

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1.    Overview: In this section, I will add more statistical information about the left-behind children in China and add more graphics that describe this issue if possible, to help reader better understand the immensity of the issue. I will also clarify the definition of left behind children as well as write a brief history of how this issue has become a social concern historically.

2.    Causes of Left-behind children: I will add more information about the factors that’s influencing the issue of left-behind children, including the hukou system Chinese government enforce, the socioeconomic inequalities between urban and rural space, and the educational inequalities at play in this issue.

3.    Impacts of being left behind: I will expand this section to include more studies done by researchers on different aspects of impacts caused by being left behind without the supervision of a parent.

4.    Initiatives and Policies: In this section I want to expand to include more initiatives that were proposed on a global level to resolve the issue of left-behind children. For example, initiative state-wide to regulate the hukou system that reduces educational inequality, private sector’s initiatives to donate resources to less developed regions, and the introduction of new technology to facilitate parenting.

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This article currently receives around 50 views daily. Its parent articles include “Hukou system”, “Migration in China” which receive thousands of views daily. I will edit the parent articles to include the link to this article to increase traffic. Its related articles include “Kinship care”, “Latchkey children”, “Euro-orphan” as well as other articles about this phenomenon around the world.

Citation

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1.    Chang, Hongqin, Xiao-Yuan Dong, and Fiona Macphail. 2011. "Labor Migration and Time Use Patterns of the Left-Behind Children and Elderly in Rural China." World Development 2199-2210.

2.     Dai, Qian, and Rong-Xuan Chu. 2018. "Anxiety, Happiness and Self-Esteem of Western Chinese Left-Behind Children." Child Abuse & Neglect 86.

3.    Hao, Chenyue, Xudong Zhou, Feng Wang, Minmin Jiang, and Therese Hesketh. 2017. "Care for Left-Behind Children in Rural China: A Realist Evaluation of a Community-Based Intervention." Children and Youth Services Review239-245.

4.    Mu, Guanglun Michael, and Yang Hu. 2016. Living with vulnerabilities and opportunities in a migration context : floating children and left-behind children in China. Rotterdam: Sense .

5.    To, Siu-ming, Yuk-yan So, and Ching-man Kwok. 2018. "Meaning-Making of Motherhood Among Rural-to-Urban Migrant Chinese Mothers of Left-Behind Children." Journal of Child and Family Studies 3358-3370.

6.    Wang, Sophie Xuefei, and Fu Yu Benjamin. 2019. "Labor Mobility Barriers and Rural-Urban Migration in Transitional China." China Economic Review 211-224.

7.    Yan, Li, Qianqian Zhu, Xiaowen Tu, Xiayun Zuo, Chunyan Yu, Chaohua Lou, Qiguo Lian, and Antonio Palazón-Bru. 2018. "ullying Victimization and Child Sexual Abuse Among Left-Behind and Non-Left-Behind Children in China." PeerJ.

8.    Zhang, Haomiao. 2018. "A Qualitative Study on the Rights of Rural Left-Behind Children in Sichuan Province, China.A Qualitative Study on the Rights of Rural Left-Behind Children in Sichuan Province, China." Children and Youth Services Review 12-18.

9.    Zhang, Junhua, Lixia Yan, Huiyan Qiu, and Binron Dai. 2018. "Social Adaptation of Chinese Left-Behind Children: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis." Children and Youth Services Review 308-315.

10. Zhonghua quan guo fu nü lian he hui. Er tong gong zuo bu. 2011. Research report on left behind and migrant children. Beijing: he hui ke xue wen xian chu ban she.

11. Shi, Ying. 2016. “The e-parenting initiative that brings left-behind children closer to their parents.” UNICEF.

12. Lisa Yiu & Luo Yun (2017) China’s Rural Education: Chinese Migrant Children and Left-Behind Children, Chinese Education & Society, 50:4, 307-314.

13. Wang, Huan; James Chu; Prashant Loyalka; Tao Xin; Yaojiang Shi; Qinghe Qu; and Chu Yang. 2016. “Can Social‐Emotional Learning Reduce School Dropout in Developing Countries?” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, no.4:  818– 47.

14. Ye, Jingzhong, Pan, Lu. 2011. “Differentiated childhoods: impacts of rural labor migration on left-behind children in China.” The Journal of Peasant Studies Volume 38, Issue 2.

15. UNICEF. “UNICEF Annual Report 2017-China”. 2018.

16. UNICEF. “UNICEF working paper: Children left behind.” 2012.

17. Ke Shen, Yuan Zhang. (2018) The impacts of parental migration on children’s subjective well-being in rural china: a double-edged sword. Eurasian Geography and Economics 59:2, pages 267-289.

18. Yanning Wei. (2018) Leaving children behind: a win-win household strategy or a path to pauperization?. Eurasian Geography and Economics 59:2, pages 164-183.


Lead Paragraph

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The left-behind children in China (simplified Chinese: 留守儿童; traditional Chinese: 留守兒童; pinyin: liúshǒu'értóng), also called "stay-at-home children", are children who remain in rural regions of China while their parents leave to work in urban areas. In many cases, these children are taken care of by their extended families, usually by grandparents or family friends, who remain in the rural regions.

According to the UNICEF 2018 Annual Report, there are approximately 69 million children left behind by one or both of their parents due to migration, which is equivalent to thirty percent of the children in rural area.[1] The number of left behind children is unevenly distributed across age groups, regions, and gender. The majority of the left-behind children population is located in south and central regions of China. Six south and central provinces, including Sichuan, Anhui, Henan, Guangdong, Hunan, and Jiangxi, take up 52% of the left-behind child population.[2]

Many factors contribute to the increase of left-behind children in China. Internal migration, which mainly involves massive economically-driven population shifts from the rural areas to the cities in China, produces a large population of left-behind children and migrant children. China's Hukou system (Chinese Household Registration System) hampers left-behind children's chances of public school enrollment in cities. In some cities where a school enrollment point system are implemented, educational resources in urban areas are not readily accessible to migrants and left-behind children. As a result of the lack of educational resources, many migrant parents left their children at home.[3]

The physical and mental wellbeing of the left-behind children has become one increasing concern for researchers and Chinese government. Some researchers found that the remittance from migrant parents has a positive impact on children's education and human apital.[4] Despite of the benefits, many of these children face developmental and emotional challenges as a result of the limited interaction with their biological parents.[5] The lack of infrastructure and parental support have led to additional challenges for left-behind children like quality education, physical well-being, and healthy social relationships.

Statistic Overview

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Most migrants leave their rural homes to seek work in urban areas and in industries that require lower levels of education such as manufacturing, construction, mining, and the service industry. These migrants often leave their children behind due to the economic and social restraints involved in migrating with children. One constraint is the high standard of living in most cities, making it difficult for parents to support themselves and their children. Likewise, the Hukou system prevents rural children from receiving social benefits in urban regions like education and healthcare. The left-behind children of migrant parents are often under the guardianship of grandparents and extended kin members.

According to the report published by All-China Women's Federation in 2011, among the total population identified as left-behind children, children age 0-5 take up 27.05%, age 6-11 take up 34.85%, and age 12-17 take up 38.11% of the children that are left behind. The male-to-female ratio in left-behind children population is 114.75, with boys composing 53.63% and girls composing 46.57% of the population.

Approximately 96% of the left-behind children received or are currently receiving primary and secondary education from 6-14 years old. Approximately 80% of the left-behind children between the age of 15 and 17 are in school, whereas 70% of the rural children population between the age of 15 and 17 are in school. However, it is also argued that according to a different metric, approximately 1/3 of the left-behind children between 15-17 left home to work.[2]

The family structure of left-behind children in China varies.[2][6] According to a report published by National Bureau of Statistics of China, the family structure can be divided into two main categories. (I) Children staying with a single parent due to migration take up 47.14% of the population, within which the father is three times more likely to migrate for work, hence leaving the mother and other family members with the left-behind child. (II) Children staying with neither of the parents take up 52.86% of the population, within which half of the population live with their grandparents. 11.58% of the total left-behind children live by themselves.[6][2]


Cause of Left-behind Children

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Urbanization and Rural-to-Urban Migration

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See more in Wikipedia article: Migration in China

Since the implementation of the Opening Up and Reform Policy, China has experienced exponential economic development. Despite the significant growth as an entire nation, the unbalanced regional growth has created a polarization between the urban and the rural, the east and the west, and the rich and the poor. The unequal development become one of the main driving force of rural-to-urban migration, such migration works hand-in-hand with urbanization progress.[3] With China's increasing urbanization, more than half of the population lives in urban areas according to the census data collected in 2015.[7] In addition, the conversion of agricultural land for commercial use made agricultural work became less desirable. This prompted a growing number of people to migrate from their hometowns to search for better-paying jobs in urban areas. The income-related and labor-force-related drives to rural-to-urban migration and urbanization prompted the phenomenon of floating children and left-behind children in China.[8]

Household Registration System (Hukou System)

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See more in Wikipedia article: Hukou

The Household Registration System is an institution implemented in China which requires its citizens to register and record as residents of a particular area in the unit of family. The system is often considered as an institutionalized mean to create class distinction in China.[9] The system functions as a tool to control and monitor the population and the internal migration. It also serves as the basis for the distribution of public services and resources, which determines what social benefits (education, housing and medical services) a person may receive in a specific region. When residing outside of the place of origin, such benefits and services might not be awarded. Because of the barriers to access educational resources outside of their places of origins, people with high mobility have to either send their children to migrant worker schools or leave their children behind in the rural hometown, causing the increase of the left-behind children in China.[3][10][11] Although recent policies have relaxed school admission by banning sponsorship fees in many cities, many problems still remain. In December 2014, the Legislative Affairs Office of the People' Republic of China proposed a reform of the Household Registration System that dismantles it in small cities and towns and the relaxation of control in medium cities.[12]

Influencing factors

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.[citation needed]

Resources

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Impacts

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Migration usually has adverse effect on the schooling and wellbeing of left-behind children.[3] The experience of being left behind by migrant parents has various impact on children's mental and physical wellbeing. The severity of negative consequences that might experience by left-behind children in China depend on the child's age, gender, and family economic resources.

Children who were left in early stages in life showed lower levels of life satisfaction. According to one research, children left behind at the age of three have emotional issues while children left at the age of nine have decreased in pro-social behaviors.[13] Gender is another factor that impact the left-behind children's experience. Girls receive more supervision and undertake more care work than boys who are left behind. It is common for caregivers of left-behind children to place more restrictions on girls' social activities than those of boys. The practice is an attempt to protect female children, because females are considered more vulnerable than males in many rural Chinese societies. Additionally, the level of housework required by left-behind female children increases when their parents migrate, replacing male children as the main caretaker of the household. [14]

The difference in family's economic resources also create difference in left-behind children's experience. Difficult economic conditions often result in poor quality care for left-behind children. When caregivers lack the financial resources to afford school fees, nutritious food, and other basic needs, left-behind children are likely to face challenges with well-being. Lower-income households are also more likely to require left-behind children to engage in farm work, resulting in exclusion from social and academic activities. It is common for caregivers of left-behind children to place more restrictions on girls' social activities than those of boys. The practice is an attempt to protect female children, because females are considered more vulnerable than males in many rural Chinese societies. Additionally, the level of housework required by left-behind female children increases when their parents migrate, replacing male children as the main caretaker of the household.[13]

Mental and physical health

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Approximately 50% of the "left-behind" children in China go through melancholy and apprehension, in comparison to 30% of their urban peers. Likewise, they are more likely to suffer from mood swings and trauma. They typically have inferiority complexes, lower sense of worth and lesser self-confidence. Most of them lack a sense of security and are too afraid or anxious to interact with other people.[15][16]

Physical well-being is also significantly lower among left-behind children as they were more likely to have an unhealthy diet, lower levels of physical activity, and more likely to engage in unhealthy habits such as smoking and drinking alcohol. These particular habits have contributed to higher rates of stunted growth and unhealthy body weights.[17]

Education

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Countless left-behind children become reluctant and unenthusiastic to go to school. Many become truants and some of them drop out of school. The children's lackluster attitude towards school restricts their social mobility and keeps them the cycle of poverty.[18] Generally, these children have lower educational goals and are less likely to complete compulsory education.[19] They likewise show consistent low scores on primary school exams which potentially deter chances of a better future.[20]

These children also have difficulties with student-teacher relationships. Additionally, when parents migrate, these children's participation in housework and farming increases, leading to lesser time spent for academic pursuits.[21]

A 2012 study using longitudinal data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey concluded that "parental migration has not given children left behind a significant advantage in educational prospects as their parents had hoped."[22] Adverse educational impacts are especially evident for boys.[23]

Reforms

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To encourage educational parity and provide equal opportunities at the same time assure migrant children's right to acquire essential education, a unified national student registration system has been set up in primary and secondary schools, and procedure for school transfers can now be conducted online.[24]

In 2011, a rural school lunch program serving 20 million students daily was implemented.[25]

Data-driven analysis to determine the most effective interventions in rural education and child welfare is being developed by Peking University and the Chinese Academy of Science's Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, in Beijing have partnered with Stanford's Rural Education Action Program (REAP). Studies indicated that although rural children had good motor skills, benefited from school lunch programs, and responded to caregiver coaching with their parents, caregiver coaching with their grandparents had little effect. A randomized trial of early childhood development centers in villages in Shaanxi Province is expected to start yielding data in 2018.[25]

The Chinese government's "National Mental Health Work Plan (2015–2020) aims to establish psychological counseling rooms in all schools and to increase awareness of psychological well-being."[26]

Social relationships

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The separation between parents and left-behind children poses a challenge to their social relationships. Left-behind children are more introverted than those who grow up with their parents and are more susceptible to being bullied at school.[27]

Safety

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Left-behind children suffer more major injuries than those who stay with their parents.[28] In 2012, 5 left-behind children died from carbon dioxide inhalation after lighting a fire in rubbish bin for warmth.[29][30] In 2014, 12 girls were threatened and raped by their school teachers.[31] and in 2015, 4 left-behind children living under domestic violence attempted suicide by drinking pesticide.[32][33] After the 2015 tragedy, local government officials in Bijie, which has 260,000 left-behind children, issued a request to parents to return home.[34]

The crime rate of left behind children is 70% higher than that of other juveniles.[35]

Cell phone addiction

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Left-behind children spent longer time on mobile games, 19% of these spend over six hours on games, two times more than those who are with their parents. The parents fail to recognize their child's extreme phone use as an issue. To them, phones serve as “babysitters” to calm the children down and stay away from trouble.[36]

  1. ^ "UNIICEF China 2018 Annual Report" (PDF). UNICEF. 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ a b c d All-China Women's Federation (2011). Research report on left behind and migrant children. Beijing: he hui ke xue wen xian chu ban she. pp. 3–10. ISBN 9787509722176.
  3. ^ a b c d Mu, Guanglun Michael,. Living with vulnerabilities and opportunities in a migration context : floating children and left-behind children in China. Hu, Yang,. Rotterdam. ISBN 978-94-6300-785-6. OCLC 966556787.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Quisumbing, Agnes; McNiven, Scott (2010-01). "Moving Forward, Looking Back: the Impact of Migration and Remittances on Assets, Consumption, and Credit Constraints in the Rural Philippines". Journal of Development Studies. 46 (1): 91–113. doi:10.1080/00220380903197960. ISSN 0022-0388. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ Luo, J.; Wang, W.; Gao, W. (2009). "Review of the studies on rural left-behind children in China". Advances in Psychological Science. 17: 990–995.
  6. ^ a b National Women's Association (2013). The national report of the current status of left-behind children and floating children. Beijing: National Bureau of Statistic Press.
  7. ^ National Bureau of Statistics (2015). China Statistical Yearbook. Beijing: China Statistics Press.
  8. ^ Ye, Jingzhong, Pan, Lu. 2011. “Differentiated childhoods: impacts of rural labor migration on left-behind children in China.” The Journal of Peasant Studies Volume 38, Issue 2.
  9. ^ Chinese society : change, conflict and resistance. Perry, Elizabeth J., Selden, Mark. (3rd ed ed.). London: Routledge. 2010. ISBN 978-0-203-85631-4. OCLC 648986767. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)CS1 maint: others (link)
  10. ^ Wang, Sophie Xuefei, and Fu Yu Benjamin. 2019. "Labor Mobility Barriers and Rural-Urban Migration in Transitional China." China Economic Review 211-224.
  11. ^ Lisa Yiu & Luo Yun (2017) China’s Rural Education: Chinese Migrant Children and Left-Behind Children, Chinese Education & Society, 50:4, 307-314.
  12. ^ Zhang, Zoey Ye (April 7, 2019). "China is Relaxing Hukou Restrictions in Small and Medium-Sized Cities". China Briefing.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ^ a b Tong, Lian; Yan, Qiong; Kawachi, Ichiro (2019-11-11). "The factors associated with being left-behind children in China: Multilevel analysis with nationally representative data". PLOS ONE. 14 (11): e0224205. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0224205. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 6844451. PMID 31710607.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: PMC format (link) CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  14. ^ Liu, Yanchun; Yang, Xuelian; Li, Jingjing; Kou, Erhu; Tian, Huidong; Huang, Heqing (2018-09-21). "Theory of Mind Development in School-Aged Left-Behind Children in Rural China". Frontiers in Psychology. 9: 1819. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01819. ISSN 1664-1078. PMC 6160696. PMID 30298044.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: PMC format (link) CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  15. ^ Tania Branigan, China struggles with mental health problems of 'left-behind' children, The Guardian, 30 August 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2018
  16. ^ Lijia Zhang, Left-behind children a poignant reminder of the cost of China’s development," South China Morning Post, 26 May 2018. Retrieved 17 November 2018
  17. ^ David McKenzie and Serena Dong, China to migrant workers: Take your kids with you, CNN, 16 February 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2018
  18. ^ "Improving education for left-behind children". Oxfam Hong Kong. Retrieved 2018-11-18.
  19. ^ UNICEF (2014) Children in China: an atlas of social indicators. United Nations Children’s Fund
  20. ^ Hong Kong Baptist University, The impact of parental absence in rural China, March 2, 2018. Retrieved 20 November 2018
  21. ^ The Collective, Educating China’s Left-Behind Children, 9 June 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2018
  22. ^ Lu, Yao (2012-04-01). "Education of Children Left Behind in Rural China". Journal of Marriage and the Family. 74 (2): 328–341. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2011.00951.x. ISSN 0022-2445. PMC 3806142. PMID 24163479.
  23. ^ Meng, Xin; Yamauchi, Chikako (October 2017). "Children of Migrants: The Cumulative Impact of Parental Migration on Children's Education and Health Outcomes in China". Demography. 54 (5): 1677–1714. doi:10.1007/s13524-017-0613-z. ISSN 1533-7790. PMID 28936632.
  24. ^ China Development Brief, China’s Minister of Education announces reforms to ensure migrant children’s access to education, 30 Aug 2018. Retrieved 20 November 2018
  25. ^ a b Normile, Dennis; 2017 (2017-09-21). "One in three Chinese children faces an education apocalypse. An ambitious experiment hopes to save them". Science | AAAS. Retrieved 2019-12-16. {{cite web}}: |last2= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  26. ^ Jan, Catherine; Zhou, Xiaolin; Stafford, Randall S (2017-10-31). "Improving the health and well-being of children of migrant workers". Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 95 (12): 850–852. doi:10.2471/blt.17.196329. ISSN 0042-9686. PMC 5710085. PMID 29200527.
  27. ^ Cesar Chelala, The sad plight of China’s left-behind children, 03 November 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2018
  28. ^ Unintentional injuries have turned into the biggest threat to the health of Chinese children. National Working Committee on Children and Women under State Council. 2008. Accessed 21 November 2018.
  29. ^ Tom Phillips, Four 'left-behind' children in China die of poisoning after being abandoned, The Guardian, 11 June 2015. Retrieved 21 November 2018
  30. ^ Hilary Whitman, Deaths in dumpster expose plight of China's street kids,” CNN, 22 November 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2018
  31. ^ Uwen Wu, The abuse of China's 'left-behind' children, BBC News, 12 August 2013. Retrieved 21 November 2018
  32. ^ Miller, Michael E. (June 15, 2015). "The heartbreaking reason four Chinese siblings drank poison and died". Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-12-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  33. ^ China ‘left behind’ children commit suicide, Capital News, 12 June 2015. Retrieved 21 November 2018
  34. ^ Pinghui, Zhuang (2017-09-04). "Revisiting China's 'suicide village' of left-behind children". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2019-12-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  35. ^ "The Children of Migrant Workers in China". China Labour Bulletin. 2009-05-08. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  36. ^ Cao Xinyu, Cyber addiction among rural left-behind kids, Shanghai Daily, 15 Nov 2018. Retrieved 20 November 2018


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